Monster Beverage Corporation
(NASDAQ: MNST) said in a statement today that the recent Drug Abuse Warning
Network (DAWN) report on so-called energy drink-related emergency department
visits is highly misleading and does not support any conclusion that energy
drinks are unsafe for consumers.

The DAWN report does not provide enough information to determine the nature of
patients' complaints, the amount of caffeine consumed from all sources, or
whether there was any connection between the complaints and the consumption of
an energy drink, the company said. The DAWN report reflects no medical finding
or diagnosis that consumption of energy drinks was, in fact, the reason for
the patient's emergency room visit.

Any causal connection between energy drink consumption and emergency room
visits is further substantially weakened by the existence of other factors
more likely to have been responsible for the patients' medical issues, such as
the use of pharmaceuticals, alcohol or illegal drugs, which was reported by
42% of patients, according to the DAWN report. This number was almost
certainly under reported because many of the patients, especially those under
21, likely would have been reluctant to voluntarily admit this type of
information.

Moreover, the DAWN report contains no comparative information showing how many
emergency room visits are associated with other widely consumed beverages.
Notably, the DAWN project leader told the media that the report did not even
look at ER visits associated with coffee consumption and could not say whether
people who had consumed significant quantities of caffeine from coffee or
other sources do not likewise visit the ER.

The DAWN report also misleadingly compares the caffeine content in energy
drinks with that in a 5-ounce cup of coffee. The vast majority of coffee
drinks are consumed in sizes substantially larger than 5 ounces and contain
caffeine levels similar to, and in many cases higher than, energy drinks. In
fact, the leading brands of coffeehouse-brewed coffee typically contain more
than 20 mg of caffeine per ounce, which means a medium 16-ounce coffeehouse
coffee contains at least 320 mg of caffeine.

In contrast, Monster energy products generally contain approximately 10 mg of
caffeine per ounce from all sources. A 16-ounce can of Monster Energy
therefore contains roughly half the caffeine of a 16-ounce cup of
coffeehouse-brewed coffee. Media reports that rely on the misleading coffee
comparison provided by DAWN, which have included a claim that three cans of
energy drinks contain as much caffeine as 15 cups of coffee, are therefore
simply inaccurate.

Tens of billions of energy drinks have been sold and safely consumed worldwide
for approximately 25 years, including more than 8 billion cans of Monster
Energy® that have been sold and safely consumed in the United States and
around the world since 2002.